Greta in her kitchen, 36 weeks (2018) //Pregnancy carried my sister into a new chapter of her life, and she welcomed it warmly. Effortlessly. Ready for things to change. We’d spent much of our late twenties debating the ‘right time’, if there was even such a thing, but she'd found it. This portrait is an attempt to depict the tranquillity in Greta's transition into motherhood and her trust in the future.

It means the world to have such a personal image selected as the winner of the 2019 National Portrait Prize. Below is a short excerpt of my acceptance speech but first, I’d like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which the National Portrait Gallery sits: the Ngunnawal people and their elders past, present and emerging. I failed to do so on Friday night so wanted to do so here.

This image is part of a series documenting my family in the months leading up to my nephew’s arrival - the first of the next generation. I think all of us felt that monumental shift, that undeniable progression of time as each of us took on new roles as parents, grandparents and aunts. I photographed that time simply to create a record of a time.

For me personally, this image represents the beginning of an intentional shift away from documenting other places, other cultures and other people to make work that is intrinsically linked to my place in the world and my experiences. I want to challenge myself to make work in an environment where I am not a visitor or an outsider, and where there was an equal power dynamic between photographer and subject. Family seemed like a logical place to start.

I also consider this image a celebration of women’s bodies and motherhood. Greta’s self-love and complete lack of inhibitions when it comes to nakedness has, in equal parts, inspired and challenged those around her for many years. Perhaps this image will do the same, as I consider her attitude alone a revolutionary act.

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Big thanks to the kind and meticulous Peter Hatzipavlis at The Print Shop @ PSC who collaborated with me to make the final print. It was also a pleasure to frame the work with Maurizio at Deans Picture Framers in Thornbury. Thank you also to the RMIT Alumni Residency, a studio space I’ve had access to these past months but haven’t used enough, though it was location for many many dust-spotting hours for this image.

Thank you to the National Portrait Gallery and Canon for the generous support of portraiture in Australia and to the remarkable jury - photographer and visual artist Hoda Ashfar, Senior Curator at National Portrait Gallery, Chris Chapman, and Annie O’Hehir, Curator of Photography at National Gallery of Australia.

The exhibition of all the finalists is now open at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra and will travel to several galleries in Australia over the coming year. Power, representation and diversity were key considerations for the jury and I feel the finalists, their subjects and images very much represent this thinking. Go see!

And finally, thank you to Greta for her collaboration, participation and openness throughout this experience. The night before the announcement I asked her how she was feeling about this image being online and she said: “I have zero hesitations or apprehension. I look at this image and I feel so proud of what my body did. I also see my old self and my pregnant self in this image, not engulfed by baby like some of your other images. It shows me I’m still there inside this new role and identity I have taken on.”

I’ve got some new work up on The Guardian, a feature + photo essay about my time on board Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior III ship, in The Great Australian Bight. This was a collaborative effort with Michaela Skovranova, an incredible underwater photographer based in Byron Bay.

Wonderful to round out the year with the news I’m a finalist in the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2019, along with a bunch of friends, mentors and one of my students. Check out the full list of 40 finalist here: https://nppp.portrait.gov.au/

I’ve had a quiet year in terms of my personal work, my main focus has been photographing my family for the first time in years. It’s nice to have one of those images, a portrait of my sister, recognised for this award.

I'm very proud that one of my images - Portrait of Eylül II, 2016 - from 'Resist Laughter' has been listed amongst the finalists. I'll be taking over the MGA Instagram from Sunday 8 October - tune in via @mga_photography

An image of mine (bottom left in the selection above) has been selected as one of 49 finalists in this year's Maggie Diaz Photography Prize.

"This prize celebrates the work of long-time Melbourne resident and photographer, Maggie Diaz, a trailblazer for Australian women photographers. Maggie’s career started when she won a photography prize in Chicago in the 1950s. By giving her name to this prize Maggie hopes to encourage other women photographers ‘to keep at it!’ "

Thrilled to be named one of 20 finalists who will exhibit at Organ Vida Photography Festival in Croatia, this September. This year's jury including photographers I greatly respect and admire - Katrin Koenning, Pieter Hugo, Cristina de Middel and Dana Lixenberg - so having my Turkey project 'Resist Laughter' recognized from more than 300 applicants is incredibly rewarding. My work will feature in the projection series, meanwhile dear friends Ingvar Kenne and John Feely will exhibit as two of the top ten finalists.

Recently international photojournalism organisation #Dysturb returned to Melbourne to paste large-scale photographs in the streets, this time with a parallel exhibition at the brand new Hillvale Gallery in my neighbourhood of Brunswick, in the city’s northern suburbs.

Poetically named Where I Lay My Head, the campaign highlighted the increasing numbers of displaced persons around the world with a particular focus on how families and communities are affected.

As one of two local photographers featured in the gallery exhibition, EveryDayMigration asked me write about the experience, a task that inspired insightful conversations with fellow Australia-based photojournalists who were also part of the campaign — Barat Ali Batoor and David Maurice Smith — along with Madz Rehorek, curator of the exhibition and #Dysturb’s Asia-Pacific Manager.

Some install photos from my exhibition 'Resist Laughter' at Special Group in Sydney (May 5 - 17, 2017). Big thank you to: Heidi Romano for curation and design support. Peter Hapzipavlis at The Print Shop @ Photography Studies College, Melbourne (PSC) for your incredible printing expertise and support. The Pool Collective for your mentoring and support via The Pool Grant 2016. HeadOn Photography Festival for including the show as a feature exhibition. And all of the people who shared their story with me for this project. Looking forward to continuing later this year.

I was thrilled to be a finalist this year for the first time with the image above. Check out the essay about this year's finalists by Sarah Engledow, Curator National Portrait Gallery and judge of this year's prize. The gallery also made a lovely virtual learning experience from the show - great to see technology furthering the read of this exhibition.

That's a wrap for the very first Make It Personal workshop! We celebrated with a one-night-only exhibition at Magic Johnston Cultural Complex with family, friends and drop-ins. Congratulations to all the participants for making nine incredible documentary projects over the past two months. You totally deserve all the praise that came your way last night (and waterfalls of Aldi wine).

I'm teaching a class at Photography Studies College this semester, co-teaching with the wonderful Bella Capezio. For the first three weeks, students have been learning about the amazing work of photojournalism paste-up crew #Dysturb and yesterday we took to streets of Collingwood to do a massive 10 paste-ups. Really love this way of showing work.

I curated the Everyday Everywhere Instagram account last week. I had a lot of fun trawling the images posted each day with #everydayeverywhere and selecting posts that spoke to me both visually and thematically while representing what Everyday Projects is all about.

"The Everyday Projects uses photography to challenge stereotypes that distort our understanding of the world. We are creating new generations of storytellers and audiences that recognize the need for multiple perspectives in portraying the cultures that define us. "

A few of my selections can be found below, click through to see photographer's instagram profile.

An image from Resist Laughter, a series exploring the experiences of young feminists in Turkey, has been selected amongst 50 others as a finalist in this year's National Photographic Portrait Prize. The image has been printed, framed and sent on its way to the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra for final judging over the coming weeks. Winner to be announced on Friday 31 March at the opening night. Can't wait to see this image up on the wall and all the other finalists!

I'm thrilled to be running a seven-week workshop with the irrepressible Morganna Magee in February and March 2017. Over seven weeks, we'll mentor ten participants as they learn make then exhibit a new body of work that focuses on personal, intimate and emotive storytelling.

Details are below, if you're interested or want to know more, please don't hesitate to contact us on makeitpersonalworkshop@gmail.com

Update (4 Jan, 2017): Two exciting developments to my original post. We're thrilled to be able to offer one person a scholarship for the workshop. We're also very happy to announce a partnership with UNLESS YOU WILL, giving our workshop participants half-priced tickets to the conference. Details below x

Description

This workshop is about visual storytelling in intimate, personal way. We will hone skills in conceptualising, making and editing documentary narratives that evoke emotion, empathy and connection between subject and audience. What photographic story a participant wants to tell is up to them, but it must involve at least one person and must be able to be photographed within the seven-week workshop period. We’ll also look broadly at contemporary documentary photography as a genre, drawing inspiration from some of today’s most innovative storytellers.

In four workshop sessions participants will learn:

Documentary narrative storytelling approaches

Access, trust, ethics and relationships in making stories about people

Editing and sequencing photographic projects for exhibition

Participant’s stories will be exhibited at the conclusion of the workshop at a one-night celebratory show. Friends and family are welcome to attend.

Who’s it for?

The workshop is open for photographers at the start of their career, photography students, or advanced enthusiasts. It is suitable for photographers who want to challenge themselves to make a new body of work about a person or human-interest subject. Participants may photograph on any type of camera (DSLR, analog, mobile phone) but should be aware workshop will not cover technical skills or camera functions.

Over two days UNLESS YOU WILL gathers local and international photographers, book makers, thinkers, curators, publishers, and enthusiasts together for a unique event in Melbourne. Part conference and part symposium, the weekend will be a relaxed, interactive and inclusive place for reimagining our way of making and sharing photography. ----> http://www.unlessyouwill.com/

Scholarship

We're happy to offer one scholarship position for this workshop. If you'd like to be considered for this position, please also include in your application a few sentences telling us why. We're particularly interested to hear from female photographers, photographers from low income backgrounds, new arrivals to Australia and/or people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

Along with Matthew Abbot and John Feely, I've been accepted into Oculi, a collective of Australian documentary photographers with the collective vision 'to expose, exhibit and promote images of contemporary culture in Australia and the surrounding region'.

“Our new inductees represent perhaps, the single, most significant intake of photographers into the ranks of Oculi this decade. Not only have we identified some of the most promising emerging talent in the land, but have positioned ourselves for the years ahead in remaining a relevant and leading force in the contemporary photo-documentary landscape.” Dean Sewell, Oculi Founding Member.

I've always hoped Oculi would be part of my journey with photography, the collective's photographers have shaped my own work over the past six years through their vision, projects and achievements. They have absolutely set the bar high in this country for incredible poetic visual narratives and I am truly honoured to contribute to its new direction.

First, this beautifully written essay by Hanya Yanagiharafor The New Yorker discusses the photographer's ability to disappear in order to document.

"…if love belongs to the poet, and fear to the novelist, then loneliness belongs to the photographer. To be a photographer is to willingly enter the world of the lonely, because it is an artistic exercise in invisibility. …the person with the camera is not hiding but receding. She is willfully removing herself from the slipstream of life; she is making herself into a constant witness, someone who lives to see the lives of others, not to be seen herself."

In a similar light, this piece by Ed Kashi for TIME was incredible to read. It's pretty rare to see someone talk about the challenges of the profession with such vulnerability.

"But most of the time I’m alone perfecting my disappearing act. The result is a deep sense of loneliness and abject uncertainty. I have been exposed to pain, suffering, violence and death, the cumulative effects of which have posited me into voids of nothingness more often than I ever could have imagined, and more often than my wife deserves to have to live with."

Thrilled to continue working on, and exhibit, my project Resist Laughter about feminists in Turkey with a little help (funding and mentoring) from The Pool Collective via 2016 The Pool Grant. THANK YOU to all the Pool team for supporting independent work by Australian photographers and THANK YOU Jess Scully for picking my application. More info here